The Dreaded “P” Word, the Writing Police are Watching

All writers are afraid of the dreaded “P” word – so what am I referring to here? We are referring to nothing less than the dreaded word plagiarism.

Plagiarism is something that we, as copy writers,  are often tempted to do – after all copying someone else’s copy is dead easy and no-one will find out! Or will they?  Don’t kid yourself. The writing police will soon be onto your game, and you will be caught out super-quick.

But why bother copying someone else’s ideas when your very own could be as good if not better? Have you ever read an article either online or somewhere else where you think to yourself “gee that is so great”? Well, let’s face facts -  we are all individuals and who says that what one has to say, depart or share is not as good if not as interesting as the next person?

Flowery language is one entity, but getting down and dirty and saying what you think, what you feel and what you know could be far better than the person who can write beautifully and descriptively, yet there is little depth to what they have to say?

A pretty girl is fantastic, and if she dresses wonderfully it is even nicer, but if she is a completely vacuous individual and has absolutely nothing at all to say that is deep, interesting or a little funny – well, let’s face it, the admiration stops right there.

Writing copy is identical to the pretty girl. Perhaps the pretty stuff looks good from a distance, but when the reader digs a little deeper, the pretty site and flowery language lacks both interest and depth!

Be sincere and above all else be honest and original. You don’t need to copy anyone else’s stuff to get YOUR own individual point across.  Yes there will always be techno stuff that we need to adhere to when writing technical copy. I mean – could you imagine getting the bits wrong when marketing TV’s, cameras or a line of industrial parts? It is then really important to ensure you stick to the product descriptions to a “T”.

Plagiarism is tempting, but hardly worth the effort. After all there is nothing quite as rewarding as writing copy that is original and interesting.